Sony
XBR tube televisions have long been the reference standard for the
highest-performance sets widely available to consumers. Today, as HDTV
sales boom and digital television sets have gotten thinner than Paris
Hilton turned sideways, the Sony line of WEGA XBR tube HDTV sets still
sets an impressive standard for NTSC and HDTV performance at a very
fair price.

I recently designed a theater for my bedroom, which is centered in a
built-in cabinet much like home theater systems installed in living
rooms through the country. I had the width for a 42-inch plasma and I
shopped for such a set voraciously. However, I found that I wasn’t
impressed with the contrast and black levels of those sets, especially
in imperfect environments where ambient light could seep in to the
room. The plasmas looked washed out and dull. At the time (just a few
months ago), LCD sets showed incredible promise and, at this winter's
CES show, LCD sets were impressively on display at many booths.
However, the cost for a 40-inch LCD HDTV set was many thousands of
dollars more than a 34-inch XBR. When it came down to it, I sought the
advice of Tan Dwong at AV City in West Los Angeles as to what to buy.
He is a partner in the retail store and has a working knowledge of the
best TVs on the market like few other people I have met. I was looking
for the best possible picture I could get for the money and I needed
the inside scoop. Dwong informed me of a new tube set from Sony in the
XBR line that had a number of new performance tweaks but was similar to
the 34-inch HDTV tube set for $7,000 that AudioRevolution.com had
reviewed a few years back. The trick was now it cost $2,300 and was
even better than the earlier version.

A few days later the brand new set arrived in the showroom and was
calibrated. There was no competition for the KV34XBR910 in the entire
showroom at any price. The KV34XBR910 was able to reproduce colors from
DVDs and movies in ways that no other set could, especially the plasmas
and LCDs. Having become used to my large-scale D-ILA projector and its
ultra-bright projector, I could appreciate the deep blacks on the XBR.
They make for the basis of a great picture and, when correctly
calibrated, this set could really make a sweet image. I bought it on
the spot.

Set-up and Installation
While
the picture of the KV34XBR910 is better than any plasma I have ever
seen, it certainly takes more effort and thought to get installed in
your house. Currently, Sony is running a promotion where they are
giving away a matching stand for the set for free. While this promo is
unlikely to last forever, the idea of plunking this gigantic television
on a stand is a very appealing one. The set weights over 200 pounds and
needs two very strong people to lift it. I might even recommend a third
person to help guide the set to its final location.

I
have a very deep opening in the center of my cabinet, which allowed me
the luxury of affording such a large set. Being concerned about the
weight of the television, I called my cabinet maker back out to my
house, where he told me that his woodworking would easily support such
a portly TV. The set arrived the next day and the very strong
installation team from AV City (I am not crazy enough to try to lift
the TV myself) gently slid the set into an opening that was perfectly
sized for the unit.

By turning the set sideways, I was able to drop cables from my DSS
receiver with TiVo, HDTV receiver and AV receiver (located on a shelf
directly above) right into the set. I was most impressed to see a DVI
input on the side of the set, but the sources I had with DVI outputs
are already installed in the big rack of my main home theater. I could
see an upgrade in the works already. It couldn’t have taken me 10
minutes to get the set plugged in, connected and working for satellite
TV, DVDs and HDTV and even with the window shades open a mere 10 feet
away, I was impressed with the brightness and contrast of the set.

In
the next week or two, I worked with Joe Kane’s new Digital Video
Essentials DVD to find a little more performance and longevity from my
set. The KV34XBR910 has a vast array of menu options that a
professional video guru can use to truly fine-tune your set. The DVE
disc allowed me some insights into how to make my colors truer and my
blacks blacker. At $25, this disc is an absolute must-have for home
theater enthusiasts. The difference I was able to get from the set from
my playing with the new DVE DVD was notable and worth many times more
than the price I paid for it. Ultimately, I will likely have a
professional video guru who uses sophisticated light measurement tools
and other set-up software to tweak my XBR further, but even now, jaded
video expert friends of mine rave at the picture of this set in its
current state.

Some of the more interesting
technologies found on the set includes super-fine-pitch CRT technology,
which was explained to me by Tan as a way to get the picture elements
of the CRT technology as much as 10 percent closer than past XBR sets,
resulting in an even smoother picture. There is a new anti-reflective
coating on the WEGA flat screen that helps to cut down on the effects
of ambient light with the set. There are seven main inputs into the
television, not that you will need that many but they are there. If you
are feeling a little like Rob Lowe with your digital camera, there is a
slot where you can input a memory card with pictures or video and
easily play them back on your big bright screen.

This set has a DVI input, which you can connect a modern HDTV receiver
like the Sony HD300 or a DVI DVD player like the one sold directly from
V Inc. for $199. This is a very powerful feature, which allows you to
get some of the best video possible directly into your set with the
least analog molestation. For a number of reasons, including a better
picture and less fan noise, I will be upgrading my Sony HD100 HDTV
receiver to a more modern unit in the coming months, which will be used
in conjunction with the DVI input. With CRT tube sets making their last
run in a digital world, the fact this set has a DVI input is a very big
plus.

The Picture
Most
of what I watch is prerecorded on TiVo, which is something of a shame,
because the compression of TiVo negatively affects the picture of such
a gorgeous set. Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t allow me to really
get home in time to watch the best in primetime and HDTV programming.
Even when fed with the compressed TiVo signal, the KV34XBR910 looks
great. The colors of animated shows like “South Park” and “Family Guy”
are vivid and the blacks look better than on most plasmas.

One
of the improvements I found on this set vs. the generation-one Sony
Plasma my father bought for his house in Arizona was the zoom feature.
Even if you are an HDTV junkie, it is likely that more than half of the
TV that you watch is broadcast in 4:3 aspect ratio. In the old days, as
with my Dad’s plasma, the zoom feature that allowed you to stretch a
4:3 picture into a 16:9 screen made the picture look unwatchable. This
is not the case with this Sony set. With one hit of a very
well-designed remote control, I can zoom in on a 4:3 picture and make
it fill a 16:9 screen in a number of effective ways. The version I use
most is “zoom,” which cuts off a little of the perimeter of the screen
but doesn’t seem to distort or stretch the picture in any noticeable
way. There is a problem
with this feature for some content, however. If you are watching
Headline News or a sporting event with a ticket at the bottom or scores
at the top of the screen, you might cut them off by zooming in on your
screen. Movie buffs might also want to avoid zooming in on a 4:3 movie,
as it might cut off even more of the original content. For me, when
watching my favorite shows like “Crank Yankers” on Comedy Central or
“Molto Mario” on the Food Network, the zoom feature is very useful.

Movies
look awesome on the Sony KV34XBR910. My video reference standard has
become my Madrigal Imaging D-ILA projector with a Faroudja NRS native
rate video processor, all set up by video guru William Phelps. The
system is very bright and very resolute but it simply cannot keep up
with this Sony set in terms of blacks and contrast. On the 1977 hockey
spoof “Slap Shot” (Universal) on DVD, you can clearly see the subtle
differences between the vivid blue of the jerseys on the Hanson
brothers against the bright white of the ice. You can see the slight
skate marks on the ice, as well as the tiny marks on the boards of the
rink. On a digital set, these kinds of subtleties tend to look more
blurred. On the KV34XBR910, the images are bright, resolute and
impressive. What was even more impressive was how smooth “Slap Shot”
looked. If you really nerded out up close to the screen, you could see
what looks to be the grain of the actual film. However, if you sit
back, the CRT system has the ability to make a very smooth, very
cinema-like picture.

Color
accuracy is another area in which the Sony KV34XBR910 excels. On
“Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me” (New Line), before the
predictably bombastic intro dance sequence, Dr. Evil’s gigantic Bob’s
Big Boy spaceship contrasts fantastically with the beaming blue Earth
in the background. Right after Austin figures out that Vanessa (Liz
Hurley) is in fact a fembot, the DVD puts the Sony KV34XBR910 to the
test as Austin struts (naked, unfortunately) through the lobby of what
looks to be a casino hotel in Monaco. At one point, he jumps into a
pool to meet up with synchronized swimmers. Even under water, the
colors are bright and believable on the set.

On HDTV,
sources on nearly every set – LCD, Plasma and CRT – look great. What I
noticed most about HDTV on the Sony KV34XBR910 is how well it can keep
up with the movements of fast-paced sporting events. During the recent
NCAA college football National Championship game – I mean, the Rose
Bowl – one could clearly see the makeup on the USC Song Girls as the
ABC camera crew tracked in on them. Unlike my D-ILA projector, which
struggles a bit with 720p vs. 1080i because of its internal video
scaler, the only picture problems during the Rose Bowl were the fault
of the local ABC broadcast. I had the game on in the big theater and in
the bedroom and there was no question the picture was more alive and
vivid on the XBR. I have had the chance to see some hockey games on
HDNet this year and the fast paced action has been truly impressive.
The Sony KV34XBR910 is able to keep up with the frenetic pace of play
without glitching out or leaving any noticeable artifacts. When the
cameras pan through the audience, as often as I have seen it, I still
couldn’t believe how realistic the people looked.

The Downside
The TV is really heavy and you need to
make provisions for that or you could have catastrophic problems. A
friend of mine had an older non-HD version of a Sony 36-inch XBR
literally bend his cabinet. Ultimately, he needed to rebuild the entire
unit, which included uninstalling his entire home theater for two
weeks. You just need to enter into a purchase of such a set knowing you
will not be hanging a 200-pound TV on the wall. You know what set to
buy if you only have four inches of depth for your TV.

A
34-inch television is not the biggest picture on the market by any
stretch. You should carefully consider how far you are going to sit
from the set before making your decision. If it is going to be more
than 12 or 15 feet, you might want to consider going with a different
set, because 34 inches gets a little small at a certain distance. If
you are going to sit closer, consider the quality that you are getting
for the price you pay. It is easy to trade off a little screen size for
a fantastic picture.

Conclusion
The value of this set is stellar. At about $2,300, the Sony KV34XBR910
is a runaway winner. When properly set up, you might not be able to
find a better picture anywhere at nearly any price. It is bright and
able to reproduce color better than any plasma or LCD I have seen to
date. It has a number of forward-thinking properties, like DVI inputs
and fine-pitch CRT technology, which make this set a worthy investment
for years to come. If you love movies, HDTV and broadcast TV and want
the kind of picture you would expect in a multi-millionaire’s home
theater, consider the Sony KV34XBR910 with the highest priority when
investing in an HDTV.